Lind, Esaias Arentsz de (d. ca. 1602)

Esaias Arentsz de Lind (Lint) was the son of Arent de Lind of Brielle and his wife Anneken Jans, the well-known martyr, who was drowned at Rotterdam, Netherlands, on 24 January 1539. After the sentence was passed, Anneken in prison wrote a "Testament" (farewell letter) to her little son Esaias, then nearly six years old. This testament is found in Offer des Heeren, 70-75. The Martyrs' Mirror relates that Anneken, on the way to the place of execution with the little boy on her arm, asked the bystanders to take pity on the child; thereupon Lenert Jansz, a baker of Rotterdam, took up the boy (see the Martyrs Mirror engraving with this article). Esaias de Lind, who later belonged to the Reformed Church, became a wealthy man, who occupied high offices; he was burgomaster of Rotterdam 1580-1581 and 1589-1590. He was a good friend of the Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. In later years his business failed and de Lind was reduced to poverty. He died in 1602 or shortly after. Esaias' son Michiel (died 1645) also went into the magistracy at Rotterdam; another son Pieter Esaiasz, who apparently died before 1618, went into the navy. It was Esaias, the son of Michiel de Lind, who gave the information on Anneken and Esaias Arentsz to van Braght, which is found in the Martyrs' Mirror.